The past couple of months I have researched and studied the syllabi of various arts festivals in South Africa and elsewhere in the world. I am proud to say that our syllabus is without any doubt one of the best available. It has a professional look and the design is clear and thorough. It is filled with educational information appropriate and relevant to the various categories and sessions. This syllabus is in every way unique to the Eastern Cape. If you hold this syllabus in your hands, I am convinced that you have a valuable piece of educational information related to arts and culture at your disposal.

CHANGE OF VENUE:

A bigger platform requires a venue that has the capacity to accommodate such a massive platform. We are very honoured to host the Sundays River Valley Provincial Arts and Culture Festival 2019, in the heart of the Sundays River Valley – Kirkwood. The new venue for the festival will be at the beautiful KIRKWOOD HIGH SCHOOL.

What is different in this 2019 syllabus? This is a brand-new syllabus with most of the categories expanded to ultimate limits. This is done to accommodate pre-schools, primary schools, high schools and adults. A massive and new pool of specialist adjudicators are hired for 2019 to aid with the continuous flow of the festival and to uphold our high standards. The PROVINCIAL CHOIR COMPETITION is enlarged and prizes are almost doubled. A pool of specialist adjudicators will assist with the competition and we are in the process to negotiate for a South African celebrity artist who will join the adjudicating team. A huge “beach” Marimba/Steel band competition is introduced with some fabulous cash and other prizes. We also introduce a new VIOLIN COMPETITION, a brand new ORGAN category as well as a new POP/CONTEMPORARY INSTRUMENTAL music category. The SPEECH AND DRAMA category is enlarged and on request we’ve introduced OPEN SESSIONS for adults in English, Afrikaans and isiXhosa. We also brought back READING for Grades 10 – 12 with cash and other prizes. We are extremely honoured to have the IRIE VIBES Marimba band together with Singers, Poets and Dancers at the festival. Workshops will be presented after specific sessions. Art Exhibitions and Art Workshops with Luana Besters’ Bergsig Art Studio, Sanet Loxton “Droomkoffer” and the multi-talented Quetin Bruintjies. A brand-new Prestige concert which in fact is a mini-festival is designed and in place for 2019.

Sessions will begin 09:00 sharp every morning until 17:00 in the afternoon with lunch between 13:00 and 14:00. The festival is extended to two (2) weeks in order to avoid congestion and to accommodate all the new categories and sessions. There will be a good variety of food and other stalls on the premises for the duration of the Arts Festival. Specialist workshops are scheduled during the morning and afternoon. This will be released as soon as we have received all the entries in order to ensure that maximum participants can attend and learn from these workshops. The process also assists us to prevent schools or individuals travelling far distances regularly during the festival. Afternoon and Evening concerts (indoors as well as outdoors) will be scheduled and released as soon as we have final confirmation and arrangements in place.

This is a very short summary of the 2019 Provincial Arts & Culture Festival.